THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFFICE OF THE U.S. TRUSTEE

David C. Farmer, Successor Trustee
vs.
Bobby N. Harmon

(Formerly Mary Lou Woo vs. Harmon and James Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE/KSC

United States District Court, District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

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DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

RAYNARD SOON

Former Kamehameha Schools’ Community Relations Manager.

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May 9, 2009

Kamehameha trustee
extensions requested

Terms expiring; report cites program continuity

By Rick Daysog

Advertiser Staff Writer

A court-appointed master for the Kamehameha Schools is recommending a one-year extension for trustee Robert Kihune, whose term ends next month.

In a 117-page report filed with the state Probate Court last month, attorney David Fairbanks also recommended a one-year extension for trustee Diane Plotts and two-year extensions for board members Douglas Ing and Nainoa Thompson.

"The potential for loss of substantial institutional knowledge, wisdom, continuity, momentum and even stability is great, and the threats of an interruption in the present, established path of governance, a less-than-smooth transition ... and interruption of important, newly implemented programs are very real," Fairbanks wrote.

Kihune, a retired Navy vice admiral, will step down June 30 after having served on Kamehameha School's board since 2000.

A Probate Court-appointed trustee screening committee recently named three finalists to replace Kihune. They included state Department of Hawaiian Homes Lands Chairman Micah Kane, state Community Development Authority Executive Director Anthony Ching and former Kamehameha Schools executive and ex-DHHL Chairman Ray Soon.

Deputy Attorney General Hugh Jones, whose office serves as the legal guardian for the estate, had no comment, saying he has not yet completed his review of Fairbanks' recommendations.

A trust spokesman also had no comment but said the estate will file a response to Fairbanks' recommendations with the Probate Court shortly.

Kamehameha Schools, which was established by the 1883 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, is a nonprofit charitable trust that educates Hawaiian children.

It is one of the nation's largest charities and is Hawai'i's largest private landowner, with more than 360,000 acres.

In addition to extending current trustees' terms, Fairbanks also recommended that future board members receive a 10-year term.

Currently, all five trustees serve five-year terms and are eligible for up to two terms. Thompson's term ends next year, Plotts' tenure ends in 2011 and Ing's term ends 2012.

Trustees earn about $90,000 a year.

Fairbanks said he was satisfied with the progress made by Kamehameha CEO Dee Jay Mailer and her management team but expressed concern about continuity within Kamehameha's boardroom in light of the recent financial challenges faced by the trust.

His report noted that the value of the trust's endowment dropped by 20.4 percent from $9.44 billion on June 30, 2008, to $7.36 billion on Dec. 31, 2008, as a result of the global financial downturn and the national economy.

(Catbird note: Not to mention the greed, corruption and mismanagement of the current Kamehameha Schools’ trustees and management who they now want to EXTEND a couple of years ... so they can lose another $2 or $3 billion???)

"The recent dramatic downturn in the economy, significant losses in investments, the decline in the real estate market with attendant reductions in revenues and lower values, and their potential adverse impact upon the trust's educational programs including outreach programs, make it critical that the transition to an essentially brand new board of trustees be as smooth as possible," he said.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090509/NEWS01/905090325/1001 ~ ~ ~

May 17, 2006

Kamehameha Schools CEO earns $474,240

By Rick Daysog, Advertiser Staff Writer

Kamehameha Schools paid Chief Executive Officer Dee Jay Mailer $474,240 during its 2005 fiscal year but that was only enough to make her the trust's second highest paid executive.

In its annual tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service this week, Kamehameha Schools said its top paid executive was Endowment Vice President Kirk Belsby, who earned $722,413 for the year ended June 30, 2005.

The Kamehameha Schools — Hawai'i's largest private landowner — is a tax-exempt charity set up by the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate children of native Hawaiian ancestry.

The trust operates schools for more than 6,000 preschool to high school students with the proceeds from its $6.1 billion endowment.

Belsby's 2005 compensation — which included $603,281 in base pay, $100,450 in expense and allowances and $18,682 in contributions to his employee benefit plan — was up 37.9 percent from the $523,856 he earned in fiscal year 2004.

Belsby's pay is less than half of the $1.7 million average compensation paid to the top executives at Hawai'i's largest publicly traded, for-profit corporations last year.

It also is comparable to the $500,000 to $700,000 range paid to the CEOs of Hawai'i's largest nonprofit healthcare companies such as The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Pacific Health and the Hawaii Medical Service Association.

Kekoa Paulson, Kamehameha Schools spokesman, said much of Belsby's compensation is incentive based and is determined by the performance of the trust's finances.

During its 2005 fiscal year, Kamehameha Schools generated $837.2 million in total revenue, or slightly less than the record $838.8 million in fiscal 2004.

According to Kamehameha's tax filings, Mailer's pay rose sharply from her 2004 compensation of $204,403. But the comparison is skewed by the fact that Mailer was named chief executive officer in the middle of the 2004 fiscal year.

Mailer's 2005 pay package is slightly less than the $493,586 in salary that the trust paid its former CEO Hamilton McCubbin in its 2003 fiscal year.

The estate's annual filing with the IRS also disclosed pay figures for other top executives and educators, including:

Michael Loo, the trust's finance and administrative vice president: $245,306

Legal Vice President Colleen Wong: $241,370

Kamehameha School's Maui campus headmaster Daniel Chamberlain: $233,652

Michael Chun, headmaster of the trust's Kapalama Heights campus: $222,928

Big Island headmaster Stanley Fortuna: $222,159

Former Community Relations Vice President Raynard Soon: $200,714.

Trustee Nainoa Thompson earned $107,000 while fellow board member Diane Plotts received $110,500.

Trustees Douglas Ing and Constance Lau were paid $99,000 each while Robert Kihune earned $94,500. Trustee pay is based in part on the number of hours worked.

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December 4, 1998

Cayetano names 2nd-term Cabinet

Ted Sakai will lead public safety and
Raynard Soon will head home lands

By Craig Gima and Pat Omandam, Star-Bulletin

Gov. Ben Cayetano this morning revealed most of his new Cabinet, including new heads for the Department of Public Safety and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

Ted Sakai will be the new Public Safety Director overseeing the state's troubled prisons system, and Raynard Soon will lead Hawaiian Home Lands.

Sakai, acting deputy director of corrections, was named to succeed Keith Kaneshiro who resigned at the end of September.

Soon, the administrator of the Temporary Development Assistance Group in the Home Lands Department, replaces Kali Watson, who was not retained. Soon's deputy will be Jobie M. Yamaguchi.

No announcement was made about the future of Michael Wilson, the director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources; nor about a replacement for James Takushi, director of the Department of Human Resources Development, who announced last month that he was retiring.

In a press release, Cayetano said a final decision on the remaining department head positions would be made in the near future.

"Careful consideration was given to each of the appointments," Cayetano said. "I'm very anxious to work with this highly skilled team of professionals in completing my administration's vision in the next four years."

The Cabinet members who will be returning to their positions are:

Ray Sato, Comptroller, Department of Accounting & General Services. Deputy: Mary Pat Waterhouse.

James Nakatani, Chairman, Board of Agriculture. Deputy: Leticia Uyehara.

Margery Bronster, Attorney General. First Deputy: Thomas R. Keller, a new appointee.

Earl Anzai, Director, Department of Budget and Finance.

Seiji Naya, Director, Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism.

Kathryn Matayoshi, Director, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. Deputy: Gilbert S. Coloma-Agaran, transferring from another department.

Adjutant General Edward Richardson, Department of Defense.

Bruce Anderson, Director, Department of Health. Deputy: Paula Yoshioka; deputy director for environmental health, Gary Gill.

Susan Chandler, Director, Department of Human Services. Deputy: Kate Stanley

Lorraine Akiba, Director, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Deputy: Leonard Agor.

Ray Kamikawa, Director, Deparment of Taxation. Deputy: Neal Miyahira, transferring from another department.

Kazu Hayashida, Director, Department of Transportation. Deputies: Glenn Okimoto and Brian Minaai.

The appointments take effect on Monday, when Cayetano takes the oath of office.

In the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Soon replaces Watson, who had asked to serve a second four-year term as director. The Hawaiian Homes director also serves as chairman of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, which sets policies for the department.

"I had mentioned there are a whole bunch of things that I had wanted to do," Watson said this morning. "But you know, the decision is the governor's, so he's the one to make it."

Soon holds a master's of city planning from Harvard University and a bachelor's of fine arts degree from the University of Hawaii. He said today he has only one priority as chairman: to put Hawaiians on homesteads by continuing the good work of his predecessor.

"My first order of business is to implement what he (Kali) started," Soon said.

Soon, currently administrator of the department's accelerated homestead program, has been with DHHL for eight years.

Cayetano yesterday publicly praised Watson for doing a good job, but said they had disagreed on several issues.

Watson, whose departure will be effective Dec. 31, said he is glad to have had the opportunity to lead the agency. In the last four years, the homestead program has positioned itself to put more Hawaiians than ever on homestead lots in the next century, he said.

The department also has established joint programs with other native agencies, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, where the two are working collectively on native loan programs and kupuna or native elderly housing.

And other agencies, such as Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate and other alii trusts, are interested in building on homestead land, he said.

Watson said he recommended Soon as his replacement.

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Witness Raynard Soon is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, personal and political relationships with Ben Cayetano, Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Kazu Hayashida, Ted Sakai, Hamilton McCubbin, Nathan Aipa, Colleen Wong, Louanne Kam, Sabrina Toma, Margery Bronster, Earl Anzai, Lyn Anzai, Robert Kihune, Gilbert Tam, Sandwich Isles Communications, Linda Lingle, Evan Dobelle, Bishop Museum, Elizabeth K. Lindsey Buyers, Hui Malama, Mark Polivka, Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Haunani Apoliona, and others to be named upon discovery.

Internet References:

Documents, Letters, News Articles and Related Links

http://starbulletin.com/98/12/04/news/index.html

http://starbulletin.com/1999/01/14/news/story8.html

http://starbulletin.com/2000/05/06/editorial/letters.html

http://starbulletin.com/2001/11/08/news/story8.html

www.the-catbird-seat.net/Confessions.htm

TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX

www.the-catbird-seat.net/CV05-00030-Witness-Index.htm